Teriyaki is a Japanese dish.
To make it, you start with a food item that can be meat, fish or vegetables, and slice it or cut it into shapes. You then dip the food in Teriyaki sauce to glaze it, then grill, broil or pan-fry it.
In Japan, the food item used to be just fish, such as mackerel, salmon and yellowtail.
If done with chicken, it was called yakitori.
In North America, the term is sometimes applied to any Japanese dish made with a teriyaki sauce added to it, whatever the cooking method,
or to anything with a soy sauce flavour.
History Notes
Teriyaki first came to the attention of American foodies when Chicken Teriyaki was served in front of the Japan Pavilion at the World’s Fair held at Flushing Meadows, Queens, New York (actually, both in 1964 and in 1965 – the fair carried over two years.)
Belgian Waffles and Kimchee first hit the American press because of this far as well.
Language Notes
“Teri” means “shine”; “yaki” means grilling or broiling.